Shame and Humiliation

Jumping on this bandwagon at least a week too late, but I'm wonder what my Chancellor, Dean Aaron Lazare would think of the reports that Saddam's capture and subsequent medical exam was 'humiliating'.

First, I'd like to think that medical exams, at least the HEENT part, is not intrinsically humiliating for my patients. I'd like to think they're happy to oblige -- as I am -- and that I'm actually doing them a favor. (Some remarked that Saddam can't make eye contact with his examiner, just as many, ah, non-prisoners can't look at their doctors during exams... I must investigate this further, is this healthy?)

I would say the pictures do not diminish Saddam so much as they elevate the US. I think the army released the video because it wanted to reassure the world that Saddam was not being mistreated, that he had abrasions over his left eye before we got to him, and that all our prisoners are subject to basic entitlements, such as a medical exam.

It would take a lot to look past all that and say Saddam was being publicly mocked. It seems anything short of US forces bowing before him would be humiliating in some critics' eyes.